Herald Publications: Panjim: Sunday, May 20, 2012.
The “public” swearing-in ceremony of the new BJP government held on the Campal grounds cost the state exchequer nearly Rs 11 lakh, information procured under the Right to Information Act (RTI) has revealed.
A great part of Rs 10,91,782 that was spent for the event went on serving the 12,000 odd guests who attended the function.
Manohar Parrikar had on March 7 evening decided that his swearing in ceremony should be on March 9 at 5pm at the Sports Authority of Goa grounds. The Chief Minister had stated that more than 12,000 people would attend the function and had directed the Secretariat officials that each invitee be served a half litre water bottle, one pedda and also either a batata vada or patties.
“Rs 66,000 was spent on 222 kgs of peddas which were purchased at Rs 300 a kg, while Rs 93,120 was spent on the water bottles. An expenditure of Rs 48,000 was incurred on 6000 batata vadas while another Rs 48,000 was spent on the 6000 vegetable patties,” the information revealed.
Other than that, Rs 25,000 was spent on the services of 100 students of Catering College Porvorim requisitioned to serve the refreshments to the 12,000 invitees. A further expenditure of Rs 12,850 was incurred on the two Kadamba Transport Corporation buses hired to transport those 100 catering college students from Porvorim to SAG grounds at Campal and back.
The pandal, stage, sound system and seating arrangement for the swearing in ceremony cost the tax payer a further Rs 7,98,212, which includes Rs 63,415 spent on flower decoration for the stage and Rs 72,270 on hire of 5500 chairs.
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